3 ms·
So, taking in mind that goats (and deer) are everywhere, why we still have wildfires? They do really think that ants and other insects process less flammable m
by pvaldes 5y ago
So, taking in mind that goats (and deer) are everywhere, why we still have wildfires?
They do really think that ants and other insects process less flammable material than goats do?
- jasonboyd 5y agoAre goats everywhere? The handful of places I've lived (Central Florida and SF bay area) I've never seen a "wild" goat. Deer, sure. But deer seem to be much pickier than goats when it comes to their diets
- soperj 5y agoI've had deer eat potato and tomato plants, and marigolds. They don't see particularly picky. They don't eat lavender...
- jasonboyd 5y agoI've seen goats eat trash so...
- soperj 5y agolol. okay. I stand corrected.
- toast0 5y agoGoats and Deer are picky eaters, if they've got a buffet they eat what they like and avoid what they don't like. Goats eating trash is usually a mix of curiosity/exploring with their mouth, the glues are often tasty, and some people are jerks and don't feed their goats/hungry goats will find calories.
- bobthepanda 5y agoGoats are used in Seattle to clear away invasive blackberry, which are quite annoying to get rid of. https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Rent-a-goats-gain-foothold-1240623.php https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Rent-a-goats-gain-fo...
- toast0 5y agoYeah, that works cause goats like blackberry (the whole plant). I didn't think they liked scotch broom (mine won't eat it), but the rent a goat services carefully size the fencing so the goats don't have so much available that they can be really picky.
- soperj 5y agoDeer aren't everywhere. I live in a city where I see deer literally every single day. Multiple times a day. I've never seen one in the forest here. Not once. Cougars come into town regularly because that's where the food is.
- pvaldes 5y agoMaybe they visit the forest at night?...
- r00fus 5y agoDeer are not everywhere. They would probably need to exist in higher ratios, even where they do frequent.
- WalterBright 5y agoDeer in the Seattle area only eat landscaping and garden plants. They leave the native plants and the invasive weeds alone. Fortunately, my yard is mostly invasive weeds, so I don't have problems with the deer.
- SlipperySlope 5y agoIn the Colorado mountains, deer eat wildflowers and baby aspens but leave grass, juniper, and pines alone.
- bobthepanda 5y agoThe goats get used in Seattle for blackberry. https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Rent-a-goats-gain-foothold-1240623.php https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Rent-a-goats-gain-fo...
- belorn 5y ago> They arrive early and open the trailer. The goats jump out, ready to eat, as Ms. Malmberg watches that they don’t stray. The team sets up an electric fence to confine the goats and their meals to a specific area overnight. Doing the same thing with deers would be much harder. Keeping deer confined in a specific area in order to concentrate the grazing requires much better fences, and when they inadvertently escape it takes much more work to bring them back. My biggest questions with this setup is how they keep the cost down from setting up an electric fence in order to create a good fire wall. Electric fences are generally very labor intensive, and we seems to be talking about steep slopes in some cases.
- w-ll 5y agoCould it be done with just a shock collar and a geo-fence?
- mikeg8 5y agoShock collars are expensive when you need 50+ of them, plus keeping them all charged etc. the current method of portable net-type fencing is very efficient.
- jdavis703 5y agoThat seems unnecessarily cruel to draw an invisible line that’s always changing and shock them for violating the line. The reason this is ok for dogs is because they’re in a fixed location and can learn the boundaries. The goats on the other hand are always being moved to new areas.
- Swizec 5y ago> My biggest questions with this setup is how they keep the cost down from setting up an electric fence in order to create a good fire wall They don’t. Friend of mine owns some land north of SF and was quoted $5000 to have goats come eat the grass. I suspect his land is too small to be worth the hassle for the goat service provider so he was quoted the go away price.
- 5y ago
- hindsightbias 5y agoIDK of any wild goats in the Bay Area. Know of one goat ranch in Napa county. IMO goats should be released in masses to the foothills everywhere. 98% of what has/is burning isn’t urban or agricultural. Vineyards can spend more on fencing or fire insurance…
- jounker 5y ago> IMO goats should be released in masses to the foothills everywhere. I’ve seen what happens when you let goats run free to in the hills. The technical term is called desertification.
- sulam 5y agoIf you've seen one of these setups (the SF Bay Area has been doing this a while, so I see it a fair amount), you know that it takes a lot of goats to clear a hillside. Like in the 50 range. There are not enough deer to get the job done.
- hindsightbias 5y agoI was told by someone that it takes about 200 goats/acre/day So guessing that’s why her herd is that size.
- Factorium 5y agoThe goats are 'free' but require expensive fencing and supervision. Otherwise they'll just wander off and eat the tastier food crops or household plants. Goat meat and milk processing is not as automated as it is for cattle, chicken, pigs. Free-range goats with a GPS-based pain collar could be a solution.